Larned State Hospital officials tell committee contract nursing, vacancies drive $32.7 million shortfall

LARNED, Kan. — At a Committee on Social Services Budget hearing, fiscal analysts and Larned State Hospital leaders told members that nursing vacancies and expanded use of contract staff are the primary drivers of a multi‑million‑dollar budget shortfall for the hospital that serves the western two-thirds of Kansas.

Dayton Lamondian, senior fiscal analyst with the Legislative Division of Post Audit/Research, told members the hospital’s agency request for fiscal 2025 included an increase of $32.7 million to cover a projected shortfall for agency nursing staff. Lamondian said the hospital’s approved 2025 amount was about $82.2 million and the agency requested $128.6 million — an overall increase the analyst described as concentrated in salaries and contractual services and funded mainly from the state general fund.

Why it matters: Larned is one of two state psychiatric hospitals and treats civilly committed patients, individuals referred by district courts for the state security program and persons committed as sexually violent predators. The hospital’s staffing and contract‑labor expenses affect its ability to serve those populations and influence the state budget request that the Appropriations Committee will review.

What hospital leaders…